Solar export credits and battery economics

Start with three different values

A solar panel’s output is not automatically worth the retail price printed on a bill. Electricity used immediately in the home can avoid an import. Electricity exported earns whatever the agreement provides. Electricity put through a battery can avoid a later import, but storage loses some energy and gives up the export credit that energy could have earned.

Net metering commonly means imports and exports offset one another within defined accounting rules. Net billing generally values exports separately. Providers sometimes use these labels loosely, so inspect the actual calculations. A monthly kWh bank, a monetary credit, a capped retailer payment and a year-end avoided-cost settlement are not interchangeable. This snapshot was checked on 8 October 2026; new applications and existing agreements can receive different treatment.

Sources: [1] [4] [2] [9]

Ontario: credits for consumption, with an expiry

The Ontario Energy Board describes net metering as a way to generate renewable electricity primarily for your own use and credit excess exports against future electricity consumption. Credits can offset consumption-related charges, not other bill charges. They can be carried forward for up to 12 months, after which remaining credits are reduced to zero. A large annual surplus therefore is not a guaranteed cheque or a permanent savings account.

Ask the local distribution company which import rate, export valuation and credit-expiry calculation apply to your proposed account. Confirm connection eligibility before ordering equipment. Model summer surpluses against winter consumption using that agreement, rather than assuming that every summer kWh can always be carried indefinitely. A neighbour’s older contract or a different electricity retailer’s offer is not confirmation of your terms.

Sources: [1]

BC Hydro: new applications use a different arrangement

BC Hydro closed Rate Schedule 1289 net metering to new customers when Rate Schedule 2289 began on 1 July 2026. Under the new schedule, exports receive CAD $0.10/kWh each billing cycle. Electricity bought from BC Hydro is billed under the customer’s separate eligible import rate. This is a BC Hydro example, not a rule for every utility in British Columbia.

Existing 1289 customers generally remain on that schedule until ten years from their initial net-metering service date, then move to 2289. There is an important exception: recipients of BC Hydro’s solar rebate were moved to 2289 on 1 July 2026. A battery-only rebate does not trigger that same change. Obtain confirmation of your cohort before calculating savings from a rebate or an addition to an existing system.

Sources: [2]

Florida: FPL banks kWh, then settles the surplus

For an eligible FPL customer with an approved agreement, excess generation can offset billed consumption and accumulate as a kWh reserve for subsequent months. At the calendar-year settlement, unused credits are valued using the average annual rate under FPL’s COG-1 avoided-energy tariff. That remaining surplus does not receive an unlimited retail-rate cash payment.

FPL’s current FAQ also identifies a USD $30 minimum base bill. Its tariff retains applicable minimum, base and demand-charge provisions: producing as many annual kWh as the house consumes does not guarantee a zero bill. Confirm the applicable rate and service region, and obtain interconnection approval before installation. Other Florida utilities and cooperatives need their own review; FPL’s terms do not establish the policy for all Florida addresses.

Sources: [3] [4]

Texas: compare the retailer contract, including its cap

A Texas offer needs the actual electricity retailer, delivery utility and plan documents. As a current example, Green Mountain Energy’s Renewable Rewards Essentials matches its plan’s energy-charge rate for credited exports, but caps those credits at monthly grid usage. Delivery charges, base charges, taxes and other fees are excluded. Its Solar Credit plan instead describes uncapped credits at a rate lower than the import energy charge; exact rates belong in its Electricity Facts Label.

Those two offers from one retailer show why “one for one” can mislead. Matching the energy charge is different from refunding every component of the bill, and an export cap can change the result for a large array. Compare a full year of interval-based imports and exports under the actual contract, including renewal terms. Do not carry a short retail-plan price unchanged through a long solar-loan forecast.

Sources: [5]

South Carolina and Georgia: two more distinct examples

Dominion Energy South Carolina’s Solar Choice rider applies with Residential Rate 5 time-of-use service for customer-generators applying from 1 June 2021. Credits follow the applicable time periods, cannot offset the basic facilities charge, and remaining excess is settled at avoided cost in the November billing cycle. This arrangement requires a time-sensitive calculation; it is not a statewide flat-rate export promise.

Georgia Power’s published RNR-11 tariff separates Instantaneous Netting from its closed Monthly Netting pilot. The current rooftop page says Instantaneous Netting is open subject to requirements. The tariff credits eligible renewable exports using the Solar Avoided Energy Cost plus a USD $0.04/kWh adder. Its monthly-netting pilot is unavailable to additional participants. Confirm the current avoided-cost component and approval; neither the pilot nor Georgia Power’s terms should be assumed for an electric-membership cooperative.

Sources: [6] [7] [8]

Put the billing rules beside the production estimate

Annual solar output is useful for sizing, but it is insufficient for valuing a system under an export cap or time-based rate. Request the proposed array’s seasonal production and the household’s available interval-use data. The analysis should apply the billing rules to their timing, then add the charges solar cannot avoid. Check whether unusually high consumption in one year is expected to continue.

Sources: [1] [5] [6]

Test storage against the exports it displaces

A battery can have economic value without a grant when the later avoided import is worth sufficiently more than the export forgone, after losses and costs. It may have little energy-bill value where export credits already offset later imports generously. Start with the incremental installed battery cost and incremental annual saving; do not count the solar array’s entire saving again as a battery benefit.

Consider an invented case using one currency. Ten kWh of surplus solar could earn $0.08/kWh exported, or $0.80. At an assumed 90% round-trip efficiency, storage delivers 9 kWh later. If those kWh avoid $0.25/kWh imports, their value is $2.25. The incremental gross benefit is $2.25 minus $0.80, or $1.45 for that cycle. At 250 such cycles a year, it is $362.50 before degradation, standby consumption, maintenance and financing. An assumed $9,000 installed battery would take about 24.8 years on that simplified calculation. All inputs are hypothetical, not current prices or a product forecast.

Sources: [9] [5] [2]

Price backup separately from bill savings

Outage protection can be worth paying for even when energy savings alone do not recover a battery’s cost. Identify the loads, runtime and starting-power capability you want. Keeping a reserve for outages also leaves less capacity for daily price-shifting; the same stored kWh cannot be spent twice. A battery must be in a system designed and approved for backup to supply loads during a grid outage.

For a Tesla Powerwall, Enphase proposal or another system, ask for the exact model, usable capacity, supported operating modes, controls, warranty conditions and complete installed scope. Tesla’s own documentation distinguishes configurations with and without backup, illustrating why a brand name alone is insufficient. Obtain an hourly bill simulation and a separate outage-load design rather than accepting one broad “energy independence” claim.

Sources: [9] [10]

Keep incentives and personal tax treatment separate

As checked on 8 October 2026, the IRS says the Residential Clean Energy Credit is unavailable for property placed in service after 31 December 2025. Do not subtract the former homeowner credit from a new 2026 U.S. solar or battery quote merely because an older guide still describes it. A prior-year tax situation is a separate question for a qualified tax professional.

Canadian programmes and utility rebates also have their own terms; the BC Hydro cohort change shows that an upfront benefit can interact with the export arrangement. Run the proposal first without unconfirmed support, then add only benefits whose eligibility and timing you have verified. Ask for a lower-export-value scenario and a realistic equipment-replacement allowance before deciding whether the overall commitment fits your plans.

Sources: [11] [2]